The Book of Languages: Talk Your Way around the World

by Mick Webb

Overview

table of contents; maps; index; glossary; fact boxes; pronunciation guides; step-by-step instructions;

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771474245
Publisher:	OWLKIDS BOOKS
Publication date:	08/15/2020
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

MICK WEBB is a travel writer and languages consultant who previously worked in broadcasting at the BBC. He was editor of the BBC Languages website and won a BAFTA for the interactive language-learning drama, Mi Vida Loca, which taught Spanish to beginners. Mick now lives in multicultural South London with his family, and as well as learning Croatian (to supplement his French, Spanish, and Italian), Mick is trying to understand the language used by their two cats.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a very well-laid out book, using bold headings and colorful boxes to portray the information on each page."

Resource Links

"Recommended."

Canadian Review of Materials

"An appealing choice for kids intrigued by languages or geography, this clearly written book will fill a gap in many library collections."

Booklist

"Takes readers on a whirlwind linguistic tour."

The National Reading Campaign

"Webb provides a solid introduction to world languages using charts, sidebars, and maps... Would-be polyglots ought to find it 'Harika!' (that's Turkish for great)."
– Publisher's Weekly

"An appealing choice for kids intrigued by languages or geography, this clearly written book will fill a gap in many library collections.
— Booklist

"A solid springboard book for introducing new languages and countries."
— School Library Journal

"A solid introduction to world languages...would-be polyglots ought to find it 'Harika' (that's Turkish for great)."
—Publishers Weekly

"Quick but sweeping linguistic look-see."
–Kirkus Reviews

"Recommended."
—Canadian Review of Materials

From the Publisher

2015-02-03
With just a bit of practice children will come away from this quick but sweeping linguistic look-see able to exchange greetings and a "How are you doing?" with anyone (almost) anywhere in the world.Following a dash past language's origins and families, Webb introduces 21 tongues—literally, as signed languages are clumped with semaphore and other codes in a mop-up chapter at the end. At one double-page spread per language, each is given a thumbnail history, a linguistic map, translations of the numbers one through 10, pronunciation notes and a set of conversational words or phrases from "Hello" to "I'm fine, thank you" or, conversely, "Not so good." He also tacks on an alphabet (Pinyin for Mandarin Chinese, Devanagari script for Hindi-Urdu) and, in catchall boxes on each spread, comments on scripts, loan words, and one or two distinctive orthographic or grammatical features. Including English, 10 of his selections are European languages, but he also tucks in a few choices from elsewhere such as Quechua and Zulu plus, in passing, samples at least of Esperanto, Klingon and even "Textese," LOL. Lest he be accused of leaving anything out, the author closes with a glance at various forms of animal communication. Eurocentric, not to mention overly ambitious—but being able to say some variant of "Not so hot" in Belarus, Brazil or any point between has to count for something. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews